Few words, Big effect

Salutations Choombas! We recently made a change to the Obstacle Die in our [RE]action system core rules, so we should talk about the shift a bit and discuss its effects!

First, let’s go over the change itself. Previously, the acting model was the attacker, and the Obstacle die was the defender (it won ties). Now, whenever a model rolls against the Obstacle die, the model is treated as the defender (so now it wins the tie). This shifts the chances of success in favor of the acting model (usually). More importantly, traversing terrain and activating abilities that target your own models are a bit more reliable.

Previously, the acting model was the “attacker.” This meant that they would lose ties. This may not seem like much to some players, but when a “competent” character is rolling, a YELLOW d8 with a +2 skill modifier, they had less than a 50% chance of success against the black d10 Obstacle die. This resulted in weird feeling interactions… like a cyber-ninja with a 48% chance to climb through an open ground-floor window. That feels… very un-Cyberpunk.

It took a lot of testing, both internally and from our Fixers and fans. We wanted to be sure that we didn’t destabilize the metagame, but after running all those numbers and playing soooo many games, we feel confident that this change will nudge the numbers in the right direction.

This isn’t to say your odds suddenly get fantastic. After all, a Red-lined model with no skill bonus will still have a hard time dragging their broken body over a container crate, but that ninja? Much easier for him to climb and leap.

So, just for fun, let’s take a peek at three areas that are affected by this change, starting with the Lawmen. As a faction that frequently targets its own models, the Lawmen just became more reliable. Especially if you’ve got a GREEN token for those Command actions. If you’re going up against the Lawmen or any faction that attempts to chain activations, I recommend holding a Luck token back to reroll your Obstacle die against their Command actions. Break those chains!

Another notable bump is for the Trauma Team, or any healer, really. Since Medical actions typically target your own models, this makes healing a bit easier to get off. This will make focus attacking healers fairly important, as they’ll be even better at keeping those dangerous leaders and specialists alive.

This change also has an effect on programs. As we move forward, you guys will get your hands on our new universal programs. This is an intended shakeup to the meta environment that will make Netrunners a bit more common, as they’ll be both highly effective and the counter for other Netrunners. While I don’t expect every team to run a code-slinger, they’ll be more common in the future. This change buffs your Netrunner’s odds when activating non-aggressive programs (I’m looking at you, Tyger Claws).

So there you have it, Chooms. Get out there and start healing and hacking with your newfound 8-13% boost! And don’t be afraid to jump that gap between two skyscrapers. What’s the worst that could happen?